A Brooklyn man was arrested and charged after he was hit by a Queens-bound F train south of the 65th Street station in Woodside Tuesday morning when he fled from a subway car after allegedly trying to steal a boy’s cell phone, the police said. The incident snarled travel on the E, F, M and R lines.
Louis Berthony, 33, was charged with robbery, assault, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal trespassing, according to a police spokesman.
An MTA spokeswoman said Berthony was sideswiped by an F train and that regular service had resumed on all lines affected earlier in the morning.
At about 8:05 a.m., police officers received a call about an assault in progress on the southbound M train between the 65th Street and Northern Boulevard stations, according to the police.
When they arrived at the Northern Boulevard station, officers discovered Berthony had fled onto the northbound express track of the Queens-bound F train and was struck by the M train on the strack, police said.
He suffered scratches and bruises and was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition, officials said.
The police spokesman said doctors were trying to help him but he was uncooperative, not letting them examine him.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the man had attempted to take a 13-year-old boy’s cell phone and assaulted a Good Samaritan who tried to intervene, the spokesman said.
As the Berthony was struck, at least 70 people were waiting for the Manhattan-bound F train at the Roosevelt Island station Tuesday morning while a Queens-bound F train with riders remained sitting at the platform with the doors open. A Roosevelt Island resident getting coffee at Starbucks said there was a long line outside the tram station as well.
But Anthony Dienda, 33, of Howard Beach, who was waiting for the R train at the 34th Street station in Manhattan, said his friend was on the F train at the Queens Plaza station.
His friend told him that a man was hit by the train and that riders were not allowed to leave the train because police officers did not want them to see the body.
“They didn’t let anybody off the train,” Dienda said.
But as of 9:43 a.m., the Queens Plaza station just had straphangers waiting for trains, with no police officers or yellow tape in sight.
Another rider, Gina Lucia, 62, from the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn was supposed to take the Queens-bound E train to the Queens Plaza station but ended up at 34th Street.
She said she heard the E, N and M trains were either not running or running with delays.
“I don’t understand,” Lucia said.
The Long Island Rail Road in Woodside announced it was honoring subway MetroCards for straphangers facing suspensions of the lines running between Forest Hills and Penn Station. Big crowds of people heading for Manhattan waited inside the station to escape the cold outside.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
